America’s best weekly Celebrating the Men of Excellence, Class of 2022 Special Section inside
Pittsburgh Courier NEW
www.newpittsburghcourier.com Vol. 113 No. 40 Two Sections
OCTOBER 5-11, 2022
thenewpittsburghcourier Published Weekly $1.00
Mice, roaches—overall ‘inhumanity’ taking place at the Allegheny County Jail Black organizations demand change there for inmates now by Rob Taylor Jr. For New Pittsburgh Courier
Some largely-Black, influential community organizations have just about had it with Allegheny County Jail leadership. The Black Political Empowerment Project, Alliance for Police Accountability, and members of other groups stood in solidarity in the Hill District, Oct. 2, condemning yet another death that occurred at the Allegheny County Jail. The September death of 57-year-old Anthony Talotta marked the 17th person to die at the jail or at the hospital after being found unresponsive in the jail in the past 18 months. But it doesn’t stop there. Tim Stevens, Chairman and CEO of B-PEP, out-
lined in a “position paper” addressed to County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Warden Orlando Harper and the Jail Oversight Board what he called very disturbing revelations of roaches, mildew and other sanitary violations that those who are inside the jail have to live with. But it still doesn’t stop there. Kim Williams, with the Alliance for Police Accountability, also detailed at the Oct. 3 news conference the revelation of women at the jail having to use socks as maxi pads. Put it all together, and the two organizations were this close to demanding that Harper, the jail warden, who is Black, be SEE ALLEGHENY COUNTY A8
SHAYLA HOLMES, with B-PEP, says the conditions that jail inmates have to endure are “inhumane.” (Photo by Rob Taylor Jr.)
OVERCOMING TRAGEDY THROUGH COMEDY Stacie Allen’s murder mystery show and dinner comes to the Hosanna House, Oct. 8 by Genea L. Webb For New Pittsburgh Courier
Imagine that you walk into your place of employment and see your boss with his face in a bowl of mashed potatoes gripping his trombone in one hand. That’s the premise behind Stacie Allen’s fourth annual Soul Food Comedy Murder Mystery Show, “Who Killed Lenny Trombone?” set for Saturday, Oct. 8, at Hosanna House, 807 Wallace Ave., Wilkinsburg, from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $50, which includes the performance, dinner, dessert and drinks. Allen first became interested in murder mysteries after watching “Murder on the Orient Express.” She hired a troupe to perform a murder mystery for a work event she was having and noticed that there weren’t any people of color acting in the show and even fewer in the audience. That’s when the kernel of an idea began to germinate
in her mind: have her own mystery dinner theater shows that cater to Blacks. “I wanted my murder mystery to be different. I’ve always been different,” said Allen, 59, who resides in Verona and works as a financial counselor at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. When her birthday rolled around in 2019, she decided to try out her new endeavor on her friends. “I had a birthday party at the Indigo Hotel. I got one of the rooms and I created a crime scene. I put clues all over the body and I put crime scene tape all over the room. I let my friends know that they would have to go upstairs into the hotel room and use the clues and solve the mystery,” she recalled. “My friends really enjoyed it and said how much fun it was.” Despite the emergence of COVID-19 in 2020, Allen still held her murder mystery. “We had a show scheduled for a hotel in Monro-
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eville, but COVID hit, so we rehearsed via Zoom and we just did a free event at Rocks Landing in McKees Rocks to get the word out about what we were doing. We only had about 30 people there and most of them had masks on,” she said. Last year, Allen, who writes and directs each show but co-produced this year’s show with Carl King, garnered her biggest crowd to date—over 100 people—She’s hoping for an even bigger turnout this Saturday. “I notice that given any event, people wait until the last minute to buy tickets,” she said. Still, her team feels this year’s show is the best yet and encourages patrons to grab their tickets soon. “This show is my favorite. It is full of hilarity. You’ll be in stitches. Sometimes we catch ourselves laughing in rehearsal,” said Allyson Bonner, Allen’s friend who has been along for the ride since the beginning. “We are like a family; we are all very close. That’s the family that Stacie has built. People should be prepared to come laugh, eat, drink and solve a crime. There is SEE STACIE ALLEN A7
Several people close to Stacie Allen have been killed by violence. But she didn’t let the tragedies define her.